Strapless brassiere



Aug. 28, 1956 E. c. CHAMPAGNE STRAPLESS BRASSIERE Filed July 20, 1953 ATTORNEYS United States Patent() STRAPLESS BRASSIERE Emory C. Champagne, Woodbridge, Conn., assignor to The 'B'erger Brothers Company, New Haven, Conn., a

corporation of Connecticut Application July 20, 1953, Serial No. 368,908

` 2 Claims. (Cl. 242) tion upon the body withthe upper edges of the breast y pockets lying closely against the body and not tending to be loose or to bow outwardly. It is contemplated by the present invention to so arrange the parts of the garment that the, tension applied to the garment in drawing it tightly about the body will tend to force the upper portion of the garment inwardly so as to lie closely against the body so as to present a smooth appearance.

Certain other important features of the invention consist in making the garment with a front opening of novel form and also constructing it of elastic material except for the front sections where a lace material is employed, which lace material extends over and forms the breast pockets. Certain stays are provided over the breast pocket region of this relatively soft material so that it will be properly supported and be caused to lie smoothly when in place without sagging.

Moreover, as illustrated, the brassiere is of suflicient length to extend substantially to the waist of the wearer, particularly at the front thereof, so as to provide a supporting band of material below the regions of the breast pockets. It will be noted, however, that the stiiening stays or bones which extend in a generally verticaldirection over the region of the breast pockets terminate at the lower end of this region and dovnot extend downwardly to the Ilower edge of the front portion of the garment.

One4 object'of the invention is to provide a new and improved strapless brassiere.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a strapless brassiere which will be held smoothly in place upon the wearer by virtue of the tension applied to the garment in a horizontal direction when the garment is secured in place. i

Still another object of the invention is to provide a strapless brassiere of the character described whichwill be largely formed of elastic material but having front sections covering the breast portion of the body and extending substantially to the waist line of the wearer, which section shall be formed of a relatively light and soft material.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a strapless brassiere of the character described which will extend substantially to the waist of the wearer at the front of the garment and which will open at the front and will be provided with novel means for securing the front edges of the garment together.

To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. l is a front elevational view of a brassiere embodying my invention shown in position upon the wearer;

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the garment in extended position;

Fig. 3r is a sectional view through the front opening portion'of the garment taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 2;,

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view on line` 4-4 of Fig. 1; and

Fig.,5 is a sectional View through the breast pocket on line 5-5 of Fig. 1. p

To illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention, I have shown in the drawings a strapless brassiere comprising a body portion designated generally by the numeral 10 which will be formed of elastic material stretchable in a horizontal direction. This portion of the garment comprises rear sections 11 and 12 and side4 sections 13 and 14. Secured at the outer or free edges of the sections`13v and 14 are front sections designated generally by the numerals 15 and 16, which front sections are preferably formed of a light material such, for example, as nylon lace. i

These front sections of the garment are relatively long compared to the rear sections 11 and 12, and, as will be more particularly described hereinafter, comprise an upper breast pocket section to extend above the breasts of the wearer and` adapted to receive the breasts therein and a lower band section extending substantially to the waist of the wearer.

The upper breast pocket sections are relatively full so as to provide the usual outwardly convex breast pockets. Stiiening stays orbones 17 `and,18, which will be relatively llexible, are provided in each of the breast pocket sections, as `shown more especially in Figs. 1 and 2. When the `garment is in its flat out-stretched position, these bones, as shown in Fig. 2, converge upwardly m inverted V-shaped form so that their upper ends are relatively close together. The material of the breast pocket between these bones is relatively full and may be gathered at its lower portion, as shown at 19, yso as to take up a part of the fullness at the lower region of the breast pocket between the bones 17 and 18. It will also be noted that, as shown in` Fig. l, when the garment is worn and, therefore, stretched across the body of the wearer, the bones will be bowed or curvedoutwardly at-their central portion, the flexibility of the bones permitting this action so that a convex breast pocketof the proper form will result.,

, The lower portion of the front section or that portion below the breast pocket is designated by the numeral 20,

and it will be noted lthatthis portion joins the breast pocket` by` a reinforced seamv 21, which seam comprisesa strap of relatively strong fabric material although no bone or stay is employed at this point. It may also be noted that the bones 17 and 18 extend downwardly only to this reinforced seam 21 so that they terminate at this seam and do not extend over the section 20. This will provide for a freer action of the stays or bones in bowing outwardly, as shown in Fig. l, when the garment is worn.

At the free edge of one of the front sections of the garment there is provided a bone casing 22 which extends substantially the full length of this edge of the garment. As shown more especially in Fig. 4, this bone casing comprises a piece of fabric material doubled upon itself so as to provide between the plies thereof a pocket 23 to receive the bone 24. This casing may be secured to the section of the garment by seams 25 and, as will be noted from this figure, it projects beyond the edge 26 of this section of the garment so as to lie below and act as a ily for the center opening, as will be hereinafter explained.

As shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, the bone 24 is bowed outwardly in convex form at its central portion so that it tends to bulge outwardly away from the body of the wearer at its intermediate portion when the ends of the bone are against the body of the wearer. It will be apparent that with this construction when the garment is worn and stretched around the body of the wearer, the tension applied thereto will tend to flatten the bowed shape of the bone 24 and will draw the intermediate portion of this member toward the body. This will cause the ends of the bone. to be forced against the body so as to lie closely thereagainst and tendto, press against the flesh of the wearer rather than to bow outwardly there-Y from. Thus by taking advantage of the tension applied to the garment to secure it in place, the edges of the garment, and particularly the upper edge, will be caused to lie closely against the body Of the wearer and thus cause the Upper' edge 0f the breast pockets to conform closely to the gure.

Cooperating Zipper sections. 27 and. 2.8 are secured to the free edges of the front sections of the garments, as shown more particularly in Figs. 2 and 4. As illustrated in the latter ligure, this zipper construction lies above the bone casing 22 so that the latter forms a fly below the zipper fastening and prevents Contact of the latter with A the body. As shown, the bone casing is secured to. one of the front sections, as at 25, and has a free edge which extends below and beyond the zipper to lie below the other fro-nt section. v

VIt is desirable to provider means to hold the meeting edges of the garment in juxtaposition while the zipper fastening is being closed. For this purpose a hook 30 is secured to the free edge of the bone casing or y 22 and a loop 31 is secured at-the undersurface of the other front section to receive the hook and hold the garment in place during operation of the zipper fastening. The loop 31 may be of fabric material and is secured to the front secment of my invention, it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all of the details shown, but is capable of modication and variation within the spirit of the invention and within the scope of the claims.

What I claim is:

1. A strapless brassiere having a body portion of horizontally stretchable elastic material and front Sectio-ns of relatively light non-elastic material, said sections having breast pockets at their upper portions and having lower portions below said pockets extending substantially to the waist line of the wearer, said lower portions joining the lower edges of the breast pockets on a reinforced substantially horizontal seam, a pair of spaced downwardly diverging stay members extending downwardly from the upper edge to the lower edge of each of the breast pockets and terminating on said seam at the junction of the breast pockets with the lower portion of the front section and said front sections having meeting edges extending from the top to the bottom of the sections and detachably se: curable together to provide a front-opening garment.

2. A strapless brassiere having a body portion of horizontally stretchable elastic material and front sections of relatively light non-elastic material, said sections having tion adjacent the bone 18 so that it will have a firm fas- Y tening.

It will be noted that I have provided a strapless brassiere which will be of Very light weight but which will at the same time remain in proper position upon the wearer. While light flexible boning is provided in certain sections of the garment such, for example, as the bones 17 and 18 in the breast pockets, no boning is employed at the upper curved edges of these pockets. These edges maybe reinforced by a strip of fabric if desired but, due to the action of the curved bone 24 at the front of the garment when it is placed under tension, the upper edges of the breast pockets will be held closely against the igure.

If desired, relatively light bones 32 may be provided between the back and side `sections and also, as shown at 33, between the side and front sections. The lower portion of the front sections will, however, be provided with no boning except that provided at their edges by the bones 33 and the bone V24 in the bone casing or y 22.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodibreast pockets at their upper portions and having lower portions below said pockets extending substantially to the waist line of the wearer, said lower portions joining the lower edges of the breast pockets on a reinforced substantially horizontal seam, a pair of spaced downwardly diverging ,stay members extending downwardly from the upper edge to the lower edge of each of the breast pockets and terminating on said seam at the junction of the breast pockets with the lower portions of the front section, said front sections having meeting edges extending from the top to the bottom of the sections and detachably securable together to. provide a front-opening garment, and a bowed stifening member provided substantially centrally of the garment adjacent the meeting edges of the front sections, said member being bowed outwardly in convex form whereby when said garment is placed under tension laterally, the upper and lower edges of said member will be urged inwardly.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,443,127 Abeles June 8, 1948 2,448,919 Shulman Sept. 7, 1948 2,449,857 Neuhoi et al. Sept. 21, 1948 2,492,303 Lo Cascio Dec. 27, 1949 2,512,215 Rosenthal et al June 20, 1950 2,587,911 Sider Mar. 4, 1952 

